Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

I picked up this book on whim. I was at a local bookstore and I happened to walk past a shelf with it. I had never read any Neil Gaiman before, but plenty of people have proffered him to me. And so, I decided to pick it up to see what he was all about. I can honestly say now that it was a good decision. This collection of short stories is amazing. It is a perfect little window into a truly creative mind. He has an engaging style of writing which he couples with extreme imagination and the result is nothing short of extraordinary. This is a full and complete collection of stories with twenty-seven stories in all (twenty-eight if you count the little ditty within the introduction entitled 'The Mapmaker.') My favorite stories happened to be 'A Study in Emerald,' 'October in the Chair,' 'Other People,' 'Keepsakes and Treasures,' 'Harlequin Valentine,' 'How to Talk to Girls at Parties,' 'Sunbird,' and 'The Monarch of the Glen.' As is expected with any collection of stories, there were a few sour spots, mainly the sparse poetry, but these were far between and did nothing to distract from the remainder of the collection. All in all, I feel that this is a must read for anybody.

4 OUT OF 5 STARS